Dozens of Personnel at Congo’s Northeast Ebola Treatment Center Launch Strike Over Unpaid Salaries

RWAMPARA, Congo — Dozens of workers at an Ebola treatment center in northeastern Congo staged a strike on Monday, protesting unpaid salaries and bonuses, which adds a new obstacle to what is currently the continent’s most rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak.

Since May, Congo has been confronting an outbreak of a form of Ebola that lacks approved treatments or vaccines. Last week, health minister Roger Kamba announced that the virus had spread to two additional provinces.

The striking staff at Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri province — the outbreak’s epicenter — includes epidemiologists, case investigators, drivers, and gravediggers who claim they have not received payment from Congolese authorities. The protestors closed the hospital, blocked the access road, and burned a tire outside.

“It’s incomprehensible that we haven’t been paid for two months,” health worker Bahati Claude told The Associated Press. “We do not want to abandon our duties.”

This treatment center differs from the facility in Ituri, where a study of two urgently needed therapies commenced earlier this month.

Congolese authorities declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been spreading for weeks before being officially detected, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus, and the delayed confirmation resulted partly from initial testing for a more common Ebola type.

During a recent visit to Ituri, the health minister stated that the government is reviewing the roster of personnel involved in outbreak response, as some unrelated names have been added to the payroll.

“We must ensure that these payments reach the intended recipients,” Kamba said. “We have encountered challenges, including revisions to the staff lists, which have prompted complaints from workers who are employed yet not compensated. We have the capacity to resolve this.”

Congolese authorities report 1,926 confirmed cases and 702 fatalities.

In a Monday post on X, WHO Director‑General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that a second American humanitarian worker infected with Ebola in eastern Congo had been transferred to Germany. The first U.S. citizen to test positive was a doctor who worked in Congo during the early phase of the outbreak.

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